Arts magnet school gets national recognition

Arts magnet school gets national recognition

Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts teacher Jack Pickett works with ninth-grade students Caitlyn Clear, Grant Brown and Crystal Collins, from left, during a recent physical world concepts class.

Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts teacher Jack Pickett...

Chattanooga's Center for Creative Arts has been named a magnet school of distinction by Magnet Schools of America.

The award acknowledges the school for its commitment to high academic standards, curriculum innovation, successful diversity efforts and the consistent delivery of high-quality education to students, according to a school news release.

The announcement was made today by Robert Brooks, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Magnet Schools of America.

Creative Art's principal, Debbie Smith, will receive the award on May 17 at the National Conference on Magnet Schools, hosted by Indianapolis Public Schools.

Center for Creative Arts serves 540 students from Hamilton County in grades 6 through 12. Admission is by arts audition, and the current round of auditions for the next academic year has attracted more than twice the usual number of applicants, according to the news release.